There are only eight teams left in the men’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, therefore the quarter-finals look increasingly well-balanced, with none of the teams being clear favourites before the matches start in the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, where over 25.000 spectators are scheduled to come for the matches.

Reigning champions France are facing Germany, one day after the France women’s team won against Germany, while the All-Scandinavian derby between Denmark and Sweden will surely provide an entertaining match.

Paris 2024 – men’s handball competition – quarter-finals schedule

Wednesday, 7 August

• 09:30 CEST Spain vs Egypt
• 13:30 CEST Germany vs France
• 17:30 CEST Denmark vs Sweden
• 21:30 CEST Norway vs Slovenia

Full house expected once again for France: 26.548 spectators attended the match between France and Germany in the quarter-finals of the women’s competition, the first of the doubleheader between the two sides in the quarter-finals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Now with the men’s competition on the cards, the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille is expected to be sold-out for this match, in which France, the fourth-placed side in the Group B of the preliminary round, aim to finally deliver a good performance, which is long overdue. France have never finished lower than the sixth place at the Olympic Games, and have won the last four quarter-finals, making then the final each time. This time around, though, that record might be tested by a strong Germany side, which recorded one of their best-ever starts at the Olympics and won four matches, having the second-best attack of the competition, with 162 goals scored, just three less than Denmark.

Will this Germany side finally deliver another semi-final? Since 1984, when they finished second, Germany ended on the podium at the Olympic Games two times – silver medallists at Athens 2004 and bronze medallists at Rio 2016. Since that moment, Germany have been somewhat of a haphazard run, but they have finally been in a good shape in 2024, when they ended fourth at the EHF EURO, and clinched the first place at Paris 2024. A mix of exuberance and youth from Juri Knorr or Julian Kostner, but also some experience, helped Germany start with four wins in five matches, securing the first place in Group A in emphatic fashion. But Germany, which have also lost against France in the women’s handball competition at Paris 2024, have not won against the hosts since 2013, losing five matches and drawing another one, including a 30:33 loss in the EHF EURO 2024 just this January. But with France hobbling in the last matches, this might just be the match where this Germany team really comes of age.

Hansen-watch in the quarter-finals: Denmark have made the semi-finals in six of the last seven major international competitions, winning the last three world titles. They were also in the final of the Olympics at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Therefore, their record in the quarter-finals of competitions is quite dominating, which bodes well for their match against Sweden. The two sides have traded wins in the last years in official matches, but Denmark look to be the favourites here, as they are aiming for a third consecutive medal at the Olympics. But as for Nikola Karabatic, every match played now by Mikkel Hansen, the all-time top scorer of the Olympic Games, could be his last. Hansen is on 181 goals in the Olympics and needs 19 more goals in the last three matches to become the first-ever player with 200 goals in the competition.  

Can Sweden stop Gidsel and Pytlick? Denmark have the best attack in the competition so far, with 165 goals, with 78 of those goals, more exactly 47.2%, being scored by Mathias Gidsel and Simon Pytlick. The two backs have been absolutely amazing, with Gidsel leading the goal scoring charts with 43 goals, followed by Pytlick, who is eight goals behind. But the right back’s average number of goals per match has dipped, as Gidsel missed some shots against Norway. However, he has a 75% shooting effiicency, while Pytlick has converted 74% of his shots. This amazing efficiency is a reason for why Denmark are so good at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Sweden will need to find a way to slow them down, otherwise the challenge will be huge for the four-time Olympics silver medallists. Third in the standings is Slovenia’s left back Aleks Vlah, with 35 goals, with 11 of the first 14 scorers still in the competition.

Two Spanish coaches for one semi-final berth: Since 2019, Egypt relied on Spanish coaches to lead the men’s senior national team, first being led by Roberto Garcia Parrondo, who was followed by Juan Carlos Pastor. An experienced coach, Pastor was also Spain’s head coach between 2004 and 2008, winning the IHF Men’s World Championship in 2005, the silver medal at the EHF EURO 2006 and the bronze medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Now, Pastor faces his former side in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games, trying to hand Egypt their second consecutive semi-finals berths, after the “Pharaohs” finished fourth at Tokyo 2020. So far, Egypt had better results than Spain, conceding a draw and a loss, winning three matches, while Spain, under the guidance of coach Jordi Ribera, snatched three wins. Spain won the last six mutual matches between the two sides, including a 33:31 win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the bronze medal match. This time around, the team which loses will also lose the chance for a medal.

Can Egypt make the final step for a medal? Spain are versatile, experience and have a lot of depth, but Egypt look to be a match for any team, winning against two European sides so far – Hungary and Norway. They have two players into the top 10 scorers in the competition, right back Yahia Omar and line player Ahmed Adel – and, according to their left back, Ali Zein, “need to do more than the fourth place at Tokyo 2020.” Their path towards a medal passes through this match, which, on paper, looks like the most balanced one. This will also be the 80th match for Spain at the Olympics, the first team to reach this number.

One debutant in the semi-finals: When Slovenia and Norway lost their last two matches in the preliminary round, it meant that they finished second and third respectively in their groups, setting up a crunch quarter-final in the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille. For both teams, it would be their maiden semi-finals berth, as none have qualified so far between the first four teams in the world and had the chance to secure a medal. So far, Norway’s best finish was the seventh place, while Slovenia’s best position was the sixth place, therefore the winner will clinch a place between the top four teams in the world at the Olympics for the first time.